I'm sure some cult enthusiast will attack me and say, "Whuddya mean, man! This movie was freakin' awesome! You are totally uncool!" Even cult films should have a certain degree of merit. Come on, "The Driller Killer" makes any Troma Film look like "Casablanca." At least the Troma films have originality. And I myself am not a big fan of the Troma films (see my review for "Tromeo and Juliet"), so I'm not just spouting out a bunch of propaganda. "The Driller Killer" is not only bad because it's...well...bad...but because it's BORING! The "Jack Frost" films are "bad" in an aesthetic sense, but at least they make pretty good entertainment.
I look back at a film I did in high school for my TV production class, and I cringe at how horrible it is. I look at this piece of garbage, and my film doesn't look that bad in comparison. Besides, I didn't release my film and spread the agony onto others. At least the lighting for my film wasn't bad. All I used was available light from my house and a pair of studio lights. Abel Ferrara must have not used any light at all! He didn't even bother to find good available light! There are certain scenes where the characters float by like silhouettes! Now if I wanna see a film, I wanna be able to SEE THE FILM!
Ferrara had no sense of structure in making the film, other than his recurrent use of the color red. Other than that, it's simply a sadistic excuse to show graphic violence with no reason behind it. OK, so he gets ticked off at a rock band downstairs that's making a ton of noise, so you'd expect he'd kill the rock band, right? Wrong. He kills everyone who doesn't deserve to die. OK, so the message is he goes insane. And then what? Even a horror flick needs to contain some good nature to it, though most horror flicks are sadistic in their own way. Obviously, Ferrara must've had a really bad day and used this film to take out his aggression. I would've suggested punching a hole in the wall, but anyway. There's not a shred of sympathy in his character (one of the rules in screenwriting is you must start with a sympathetic character--he or she doesn't have to be perfectly sympathetic, but must have SOMETHING for the audience to sympathize with). How can I sympathize with him drilling into an innocent homeless man? And why, on God's green earth, DID HE NOT KILL THE FRIGGIN' BAND???!!!! Give us something, dammit!!
Ever since I saw "Bad Lieutenant," a fine piece of cinema, I've been curious about Ferrara's work. "King of New York" didn't impress me much, but signs of directorial genius were there. I cannot, and I repeat, cannot believe the same guy who directed "Bad LT" directed this horrendous piece of crap! Not only that, but the S.O.B. can't act either! Yes, Ferrara also stars in the film (with the alias Jimmy Laine). People like Spike Lee and Sydney Pollack have proven their talents both behind and in front of the camera. Ferrara is not in the same league. And top it off (DVD buyer or renter beware), Ferrara's commentary deserves the Razzie for Worst DVD Commentary Ever, if there were such an award. I can't even consider it a commentary. The last person I'd expect such shallow gibberish from is a director himself, especially the director of "Bad Lieutenant." At first I found it slightly amusing, imagining Ferrara as a brain-dead stoner who rambles on about a bunch of B.S. and you simply laugh at him, rather than with him. But after a while, it really started to get tedious. I mean, tell some freakin' stories about what happened on the set! I know it's a terrible film and he can't possible say anything meritorious about each scene, but would it kill to tell some stories? But instead he sounds like a cross between a 10-year-old and a drunken moron. All he does is ramble on about how hot he thinks one of the actresses is and spout out cheesy phrases like "Whoopsy-daisy" (anybody who listened to the commentary is probably nodding confidently right now, he says that damn phrase like 50 times!).
There is a gratuitous lesbian shower scene (BTW, the whole lesbian subplot is simply thrown in for a cheap eye-opener and makes absolutely no sense), but that does not make "The Driller Killer" even slightly worth renting. You're better off renting "Showgirls" instead. Usually I can find at least one slightly redeeming quality in a film, but this is a definite exception. One of the few films that actually deserves the rock-bottom vote of...
My score: 1 (out of 10)
I look back at a film I did in high school for my TV production class, and I cringe at how horrible it is. I look at this piece of garbage, and my film doesn't look that bad in comparison. Besides, I didn't release my film and spread the agony onto others. At least the lighting for my film wasn't bad. All I used was available light from my house and a pair of studio lights. Abel Ferrara must have not used any light at all! He didn't even bother to find good available light! There are certain scenes where the characters float by like silhouettes! Now if I wanna see a film, I wanna be able to SEE THE FILM!
Ferrara had no sense of structure in making the film, other than his recurrent use of the color red. Other than that, it's simply a sadistic excuse to show graphic violence with no reason behind it. OK, so he gets ticked off at a rock band downstairs that's making a ton of noise, so you'd expect he'd kill the rock band, right? Wrong. He kills everyone who doesn't deserve to die. OK, so the message is he goes insane. And then what? Even a horror flick needs to contain some good nature to it, though most horror flicks are sadistic in their own way. Obviously, Ferrara must've had a really bad day and used this film to take out his aggression. I would've suggested punching a hole in the wall, but anyway. There's not a shred of sympathy in his character (one of the rules in screenwriting is you must start with a sympathetic character--he or she doesn't have to be perfectly sympathetic, but must have SOMETHING for the audience to sympathize with). How can I sympathize with him drilling into an innocent homeless man? And why, on God's green earth, DID HE NOT KILL THE FRIGGIN' BAND???!!!! Give us something, dammit!!
Ever since I saw "Bad Lieutenant," a fine piece of cinema, I've been curious about Ferrara's work. "King of New York" didn't impress me much, but signs of directorial genius were there. I cannot, and I repeat, cannot believe the same guy who directed "Bad LT" directed this horrendous piece of crap! Not only that, but the S.O.B. can't act either! Yes, Ferrara also stars in the film (with the alias Jimmy Laine). People like Spike Lee and Sydney Pollack have proven their talents both behind and in front of the camera. Ferrara is not in the same league. And top it off (DVD buyer or renter beware), Ferrara's commentary deserves the Razzie for Worst DVD Commentary Ever, if there were such an award. I can't even consider it a commentary. The last person I'd expect such shallow gibberish from is a director himself, especially the director of "Bad Lieutenant." At first I found it slightly amusing, imagining Ferrara as a brain-dead stoner who rambles on about a bunch of B.S. and you simply laugh at him, rather than with him. But after a while, it really started to get tedious. I mean, tell some freakin' stories about what happened on the set! I know it's a terrible film and he can't possible say anything meritorious about each scene, but would it kill to tell some stories? But instead he sounds like a cross between a 10-year-old and a drunken moron. All he does is ramble on about how hot he thinks one of the actresses is and spout out cheesy phrases like "Whoopsy-daisy" (anybody who listened to the commentary is probably nodding confidently right now, he says that damn phrase like 50 times!).
There is a gratuitous lesbian shower scene (BTW, the whole lesbian subplot is simply thrown in for a cheap eye-opener and makes absolutely no sense), but that does not make "The Driller Killer" even slightly worth renting. You're better off renting "Showgirls" instead. Usually I can find at least one slightly redeeming quality in a film, but this is a definite exception. One of the few films that actually deserves the rock-bottom vote of...
My score: 1 (out of 10)